Newfoundland’s award-winning soulful producer of pop hits, Chris Kirby, is keeping himself in the limelight these days with his new album, What Goes Around. Stepping back out from behind the console and onto the stage, Kirby’s second single from the album, “Better Not Let Me Down,” is a dark and dancy indie number which features Caveboy’s vocalist Michelle Bensimon.
The duo co-wrote “Better Not Let Me Down” over Skype after meeting at a Los Angeles songwriting camp. And if the pop track has a darker tinge to it, we shouldn’t be all that surprise: it was born of the funk that hung over the country in the days immediately following the 2016 United Presidential Election. The song reflects the raw open wound left on the people of California, and the brave new world they’d just be thrust into.
“The political climate in the US while we were there was tense, to say the least,” says Chris Kirby about writing the single with Michelle. “We tried to reflect this tension in the lyrics of the song, and I also applied quite a bit of tension in the production. The song was written about a moment in time three years ago that is still just as relevant today.”
Kirby is about to embark on an album release tour across a good chunk of Canada, beginning August 28, with a bonus run with Nick Earle for their “Earle and Kirby Tour” starting on October 23.
Tour Dates:
08.28.19 – Halifax, NS @ Halifax Urban Folk Festival
09.13.19 – Miramichi, NB @ Saltwater Sounds
09.14.19 – Fredericton, NB @ The Tipsy Muse Café
09.21.19 – Bedford, NS @ Patchwork House Concerts
09.27.19 – Charlottetown, PEI @ The Pourhouse
09.28.19 – Dartmouth, NS @ New Scotland Brewing Co.
10.12.19 – Ottawa, ON @ Overflow Brewing Company†
10.18.19 – Guelph, ON
10.23.19 – Melville, SK*
10.24.19 – Canora, SK*
10.25.19 – Indian Head, SK*
10.26.19 – Biggar, SK*
10.28.19 – Kindersley, SK*
10.29.19 – Hudson Bay, SK*
10.30.19 – La Ronge, SK*
11.01.19 – Rosthern, SK*
11.02.19 – Humboldt, SK*
11.04.19 – Moosomin, SK*
11.05.19 – Weyburn, SK*
11.06.19 – Estevan, SK*
11.07.19 – Shaunavon, SK*
11.09.19 – Tisdale, SK*
†With MonkeyJunk
*Earle & Kirby Tour